Tortugan Pub
by Asher Elric
Summary: Jack contemplates the origins of his compass, and his confused feelings.


**Tortugan Pub**

It hadn't taken him long to sail into the Pirate Port; it hadn't taken him long to order the ship secured and go ashore with Gibbs. It hadn't taken him long to find a table, and it hadn't taken him long to down a bottle of rum and neglect to ask for another.

However, the quandary that had taken him, would take more than light speed moments passing him by in order to put it to rights. This quandary happened to be in the form of his compass that he had picked up from Tia Dalma.

He took it from its place on his belt and flipped it open; it spun in circles so fast that it made Jack dizzy just looking at it. He flipped it shut and then cursed himself for being so stupid! He knew what he had to do but….for some odd reason it wasn't important. Damn it! It wasn't as important as getting his pearl back!

Which it should have been; Jack knew he was screwed if he didn't get Davy Jones his ninety-nine souls, and even more so if he didn't figure out a way to get that whelp out of the hands of the evil sea captain. Which was easier said than done and Jack wanted to hit himself for even thing of the clichéd phrase in the first place!

Odd things happened to him when he wasn't properly drunk; He called for more rum and it was delivered in no time at all. Jack nursed it while he opened the compass once again.

This compass was special! It would point to that one thing a person wanted the most. Which had helped him fine Isle Da Morta in the first place, and helped him track his Pearl; but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work now!

He didn't feel confused…he was stressed, no doubt about that….but…..

Jack sighed, he wished he knew what he was doing!

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

_An even younger Jack Sparrow followed the old map into the depths of the Louisiana Bayou; he needed the help of the old witch out here, that most people…except those who lived out here…were afraid of. But he wasn't!_

_The twenty year old pirate rowed slowly, his lamp giving off shaking shadows on the trees as he passed them by. An alligator whacked the side of his boat with its tail and Jack had the weird feeling that it wanted to eat him._

_Finally, a house on stilts, lit up from the inside with many candles and lanterns came into view. Jack rowed faster and when he finally got to the dock, he tied the rope firmly to one of the posts and climbed out. He pocketed his map and ascended the ladder up to the porch._

_"This is it," he muttered when he got to the porch and knock softly on the door. He heard footsteps in the house before the door opened, and the lady standing before him was as much of a witch as the New Orleans bar tender had told him._

_"Ah, I was wondering when you would come to me," the lady smiled in what could have been described as "happily"._

_"Yes, my name is…"_

_"I all ready know who you are….Jack Sparrow…"_

_"Good, than you know what I need?"_

_"That, no; but come in," she said and then turned her back to him and went to the huge table sitting in the middle of the room._

_Tia Dalma's home was more of a place to keep her collection of odds and ends that Jack honestly didn't want to know anything about. He ducked a jar of pickled eye balls and sat at the table in front of Tia Dalma._

_"I'm looking for Isle Da Morta," Jack said._

_"Ah," Tia Dalma smiled widely, "The island of the Dead…"_

_"Exactly!" Jack was glad to find someone who understood what he needed._

_"Unfortunately," she said, "I do not have the bearings,"_

_"What…?"_

_"You have to FIND the Island," she continued._

_"Do you have anything that might help me?"_

_"Maybe, but there is a price," she smirked. Jack smirked back at her._

_He dug through his coat and he came out with a bag; he held it for a few moments before putting it on the table before them._

_"This, happens to be the skull of Cortez, said to bring those of the dead back to life just as if they had never been dead before," Jack said. _

_Tia Dalma pulled the bag to her and opened it; inside was a small skull with some old Spanish inscription on the back, the eyes were of topaz diamonds and it grinned hideously as she turned it about._

_"The price is acceptable," she said. Then she got up and went to the back room where she rummaged for a while. A long while, and muttered to herself. When she did come back to Jack, in her hand was a small trinket._

_"What is that?" Jack asked._

_"A compass…"_

_"A compass will help me find Isle De Morta?"_

_"It's special…" Tia Dalma said._

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Indeed, Jack thought as he looked over to Gibbs who had someone putting their name in the log book. The compass was special and that was why Becket wanted it. He wanted it so that he could take over the world. Jack knew that the man was evil, he just didn't know how evil and that made him worry just as much for himself as for the Turner boy.

He was sorry that he had to leave the whelp, but sometimes he had to do these things. He growled at himself for being sorry over something that he shouldn't. He was a pirate and that was what he was supposed to do! For heavens sake!

Jack flipped the lid of the compass shut; "I know what I want, I know what I want, I know what I want…"

When he opened it once again, it was still spinning in circles with no end in site.

"So do I make your crew or not? You didn't say where your going. Somewhere Nice!"

As the table collided with the floor, barely missing Gibbs, Jack looked up at knew that he was in trouble, but less than he had anticipated. At least Becket hadn't sent the whole British army and navy after him!

He grabbed a tree limb from a fern near by and tried to get passed the angry X-Commodore. But Norrington had his gun aimed at him and Jack took refuge behind a pillar in the middle of the old pub.

"So am I worthy to serve under Captain Jack Sparrow. Or should I just kill you now?"

"Ah…your hired?" Jack said with as much of a stupid grin as humanly possible.

"Sorry, old habits and all that," Norrington said, and just as he was about to kill the famed pirate….

Two of Jack's crew leapt up and tried to get the weapon from the drunken man.

That set off a course of events that ended with the Norrington being thrown into the pigs pen right outside the door. Once again…slightly….if at all….bested by the world famous CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow.

THE END


End file.
